Australia’s Gold Coast is preparing for a big poker tournament as the country recovers from COVID-19
Some parts of the world seem to be starting to recover after the havoc created by the coronavirus pandemic. For instance, countries like Australia started to reopen nonessential businesses with extreme caution during this past month, and it is perhaps one of the places that seem to have recovered a greater level of normalcy. That's why the Australian Poker Tour (APT) is planning on bringing live poker back to the land down under as some casinos are starting to reopen across the country.
The task might not be easy, as most casinos that are reopening are focused more on other table games like VIP blackjack over poker. So, independent tournament organizers are beginning to step up and bring what people have been waiting for. The last few months were hard for APT since online poker is not legal in Australia and the organization is only focused on the Aussie poker market; when casinos shut down due to the pandemic, they had few options left.
APT CEO David Miles made efforts to work with the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to negotiate some sort of online activity, perhaps like cash satellites, but there were no updates shared regarding the status of that request. Now, the APT began exploring the possibility of running a live tournament again by teasing fans on Facebook and talking about an announcement for June 27. Then, the tour announced that it will run the first live event after the pandemic, which will take place at Southport Sharks on the Gold Coast in Queensland on September 4-6. This will be a three-day live event series featuring a total of eleven tournaments.
